Our annual Open Day is next month on Saturday 22nd November, so hopefully you’re finishing your pictures and getting them mounted and framed ready to be exhibited. Max 6 framed pictures per artist, unlimited mounted pictures in the browsers. Hanging evening is Friday 21st November from 7-9pm. Please note those dates in your diaries/calendars/phones!

Wednesday 8th 7-9pm – Railway 200

It’s the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. George Stephenson’s steam-powered locomotive, Locomotion I, pulled the first ever passenger carrying train on a public railway 26 miles between Sheldon, Darlington and Stockton. Hundreds of passengers were aboard and since then railways and train travel have changed the world.

Hark back to pictures from that era of these early trains, or maybe you grew up loving to watch steam trains. You may prefer sleek, modern trains or have been on holiday on trains in countries and continents far away. Choose any era of train travel to draw and paint your picture in any medium.

The 200 year anniversary website… https://railway200.co.uk

more info… https://www.hra.uk.com/railway-200-home

Remember the BBC2 programme Great Railway Journeys of the World, first broadcast in 1980? More recently Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys and his subsequent trips to the USA, Europe, India, Australia, Asia and Canada have been broadcast.

Saturday 25th 10am to 3pm – Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675)

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer painted only 34 artworks in his 43 years, but they have grown in popularity in the 350 years since his death. He painted one house and one landscape, all the rest being people in domestic settings lit by a window to one side giving a direct light source on to the subject. Most famous is Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, painted in 1665.

Choose to draw or paint a picture in one of three ways using any medium…

1. Create ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in your own style and colours.

2. ‘…with a Pearl Earring”. If you like portraits draw or paint any person, family or famous, past or present, as a head and shoulders portrait but wearing the luscious pearl earring.

3. Draw or paint a domestic setting with a person lit only from one side, thus giving dramatic lighting to the scene.

Wiki info… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer

List of paintings… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paintings_by_Johannes_Vermeer

Click on ‘Discover Vermeer”… https://www.vermeerdelft.nl/en

Tracy Chevalier’s book published in 1999 called ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is a good read and the film of the same name from 2003 stars Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson.